At only 17 years old, the painter Henri-Jean-Jules Geoffroy set up his own household at 48 rue du Faubourg-du-Temple in the eleventh arrondissement. His neighbors there were Louis and Julie Girard, who operated a private day school on the ground floor of that same building, the Institute Girard. Quickly the artist began using the young students as models for his paintings, setting him on the path to become the painter of children he is best remembered as today. While Geoffroy shared the interests of the Realists in the social issues afflicting the poor and disenfranchised, he instead combined this radical consciousness with a more traditional painting technique to create a style all his own. He remained a committed advocate for children throughout the rest of his life.

In 1879, Geoffroy’s supply of models expanded again when the Institute Girard opened a boarding school down the street. His paintings from this era begin by focusing on single children or small groups, but as the artist built his reputation and skill, he expanded into larger, multi-figure compositions, like the present work depicting a young teacher leading her students in a reading lesson, which was his submission to the Salon of 1892. These larger more complex compositions may also reflect Geoffroy’s participation in the Commission on Educational Imagery beginning in 1882, through which the artist contributed to decisions about how images could best be used as teaching tools in the classroom. It was also in this same period the painter began to sign his works as 'Geo', the nickname by which he is still known today.